End of 21 day Paleo

So from the 3rd of Jan until today the 24th I have been eating strict paleo* foods (I kept butter and potatoes in as butter is king and potatoes aren’t actually as bad as people think and if treated as a high carb veg and eaten sensibly then there is no problem, saying that I only ate spuds twice in 3 weeks). In my day to day living the paleo diet looks like, coffee and some variety of eggs for breakfast, salad and meat/fish (with olive oil and balsamic) for lunch and meat and veg for dinner. Sometimes this varied but for the most part this was my template. I generally ate 1-2 pieces of fruit and a handful of nuts each day and some beef jerky as snacks. I often boosted my coffee by adding butter, don’t knock it till you tried it, unsalted!! Bulletproof coffee

So what gains did I get?

-Better sleep, even with less sleep I feel fresher and more energised when getting out of bed.
-Lowered inflammation, no pain or stiffness from training sessions. I could train everyday and no DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).
-Lower body weight and fat. I reckon I dropped 4kg and leaned up really well.
-Training has improved, feel stronger day to day.
-In general I feel great.

Anyone that wants to improve their physique, training, mentality,diet and most importantly HEALTH should seriously consider adopting a 21-28 day strict paleo challenge. It can be tough on weekends and a bit unsocial cause as its hard to eat out etc. But a challenge shouldn’t be easy and nothing worth having comes without hard work. I feel it is a really worth while thing to try. The Internet is full of recipes to keep it interesting and in the end it’s only a few weeks in your whole life.

You can’t train out a bad diet. All the good work you are doing in the gym can be outdone by all the CRAP (Carbs. Refined sugars. Alcohol. Processed foods) you are putting in your body. I’m not saying never eat this stuff, but try to cut it out for a month and see how you feel.

If anyone would like tips and helps to adopting a paleo diet then please email me at ian@crossfitcork.ie and I’ll help you as best I can.

We could also run a group gym paleo challenge in upcoming months as motivation if people showed interest?